It’s been a busy old month or so for me with regards to shows and meets (read the Mega Meet Round-up here). This weekend just past saw the turn of Edition 38, one of the largest CW shows of the year and one of the main events of the VW calendar.

However, I was not there. Instead I decided to drive up to a small Hill Climb course near Worcester for the 2014 Retro Ride Gathering show. Now, I have been to this show for the last 3 years and have really enjoyed every year. This year was going to be slightly different though as it was moving location from Prescott to Shelsley Walsh.

Shelsley Walsh is not a small venue itself, in fact the main reason RRG 2014 was being moved from Prescott to Shelsley Walsh was due to the fact that they needed more room for the club stands. My only reservation was that the viewing of the hill climb itself was not quiet as good. For those of you who have been to Prescott, you will know that there is a great vantage point where many people can site on an open bank and watch a good third of the track. Shelsley Walsh however is a more traditional track, with a number of smaller viewing points that give a more limited view of the track.

Even though Shelsley Walsh’s viewing points were more limited and smaller then the main viewing point at Prescott, it was a fun, tight track that lead to some great cars being driven by some enthused drivers, easily entertaining all those who climbed the steep slope to watch.

As we were travelling up to Shelsley Walsh from Exeter, we decided once again to camp from Friday all the way to show day on the Sunday. Camping as a whole was well organised and the orchard used actually made for a pretty cool camp site. There were the usual antics during the night, but nothing too bad, and the ‘tat sale’ on Saturday night was great fun.

The Sunday came and the reason for the move to Shelsley Walsh became obvious. The club stand field was huge, with a huge range of different cars featured. There was no time to look around the stands in the morning though as two friends (Joe Ford and Tom White) were planning on running their retro Fords up the hill.

After getting up nice and early they both lined up to register and pay their £30 for their runs up the hill. We wondered up the (bloody) steep hill and many, many steps to get the to top S’s on the hill. We managed to get some pretty cool pics of the first two groups from the morning session that included Joe and Tom’s runs.

If I were to be critical of anything it would be that the second group in the morning sessions only had 2 runs. That makes for a quite expensive morning for those guys. It is a shame as it looked like it was mainly due to getting the cars back down after the runs and out the way of the next group. I think they were getting the hang of it by the time the afternoon sessions were running, but that did not help those in that second group. Here are the pics from the hill.

Once we had had our fill of the hill we wondered around the club stands. Some of the cars on show were beautiful classics that has been modified to help amplify an already amazing car. There were of course some that were a little tatty and some that were damn right pap, but that is just IMO.

Anyway, here is my dump of pics from the club stands on Sunday. Any requests for larger versions just leave a comment.

I first must apologise for the lateness of this post. I have no real excuse for not creating this earlier, I am just a lazy, lazy man who cannot bring himself to sit behind a computer in the evenings after spending all day behind another.

Anyway, as most who are reading this will know we recently had the summer mega meet at Exeter services (Aug 17th) and therefore we are in need of a round-up post on the meet with a shed load of images in it.

The meet was lining up to be the biggest we have ever had. With over 400 people said to attend on the Facebook event page we were looking forward to some great cars from around the South West.

Then the rain came!

Around half the people said to be attending ended up braving the weather and I bet they were happy they were. After a short shower at Exeter services we actually saw some blue skies.

As with all mega meets there was a great array of cars on show. From show cars to daily drivers. From VAG to Lancia.

Once again those who made the short drive to Budleigh were greeted with sun, sea and pies from the Devon Deli van.

Firstly, I wanted to say that I am not shutting down SWDubs forum. We still get loads of questions and great threads on there (mostly in the for sale section these days), so I will be keeping the old girl going for the time being.

I started SWDubs back in 2004 as a place to get together online with a group of VW mad friends. The site and forum were learning tools for myself with regards to building websites (the first site was horrendous) and how to install a forum and manage it. This was due to me starting in a new job in SEO (search engine optimization) and wanting to learn more about how sites were made and functioned.

From that small start the forum exploded into life with new members joining and adding their personalities into the mix. Over the last 10 years the forum has been through many ups and downs. From the time when we were attacked by members from Barry Boys forum for posting about an MX5 accident near Exeter (long story that is better off not recalled), to small local clubs being spawned from members meeting on the forum (DKM anyone?). We have seen our fair share of technical difficulties too, with server crashes (2 so far) and whole site and forum hosting migrations.

Photo Shoot from many years ago (2005 maybe?)

Over the years the forum has seem members come and go, with a core of people sticking around to share their knowledge and wind up newbies. However even this looks to be in decline. Overall the number of active users on the forum is falling, with most users using only the for sale sections of the forum and not the car or even the general chat. I myself am guilty of this, with things in real life taking a toll on the amount of time that I am on the forum, with new projects and new work changing how I interact with my own site.

Ten Tors Meet in 2009

I am not sure this is the only reason though. I think car forums are starting to become a little old hat, with people wanting a more convenient way to interact with people of the same interest.

In steps Facebook. Now, I am not saying that Facebook has killed all forums, but it is a hell of a lot easier for someone to check on a community if they are already there several times a day telling people about the funny looking dog they saw in the street. Facebook groups are like micro forums, with people being able to post straight onto a wall that everyone see (awesome, no move getting my thread moved by mods right?).

SWDubs Mega Meet 2010

Now, SWDubs has two Facebook ‘pages’ I hear you say. And you would be right. There is a SWDubs Group that was set up when the forum was down for a short period many years ago, and a newer SWDubs Page that was created by me to spread cool VW stuffs when I can be assed (and spread the word on the SWDubs mega meets). The Group is the micro forum type page that I mentioned above, it has many users all posting things that go straight onto a single wall. This is usually littered with poor for sale ads written by people who cannot be bothered to describe what they are selling. This micro forum is easy to use, quick and notifies you when something new pops up or if someone comments on your post. Awesome right? But as a whole there is no community there, it does not have the atmosphere created by people within a forum environment. It is just a single wall with people jostling for position of their for sale post.

Now, the SWDubs forum is still alive and kicking and still gets new members looking for answers to all those juicy dub related questions. But it just does not have the activity that I once saw.

SWDubs Mega Meet 2014 (image from S4 Gar)

Over the next month I will be trying to use the forum more. I want to see if it is possible to reignite the community into engaging more and rebuilding the great a atmosphere we once had. I want to get the banter started again where people would take the piss and then help out. I want to get the technical areas busy again with questions from newbies and experienced dubbers around all aspects of VWs. I want to get the meets section buzzing for new summer meets and shows.

I do hope that I am wrong in thinking that car forums are on the way out. They are a great way to get to know people like you in your local area, and gain some valuable knowledge at the same time. Some of my best friends have come from meets and shows arranged on SWDubs, so I would say it is worth a another go.

Christmas time means many things to many people, giving, love, hope, faith. But to a small number of people it means some quality time off under the car to get some work done.

I popped in to do some work on the Jetta today after Adam telling me that the rear beam needed to come off so he could weld up the chassis leg behind the mounting point on the drivers side thanks to some 30 year old rot. So I dropped in to get the old beam off (it wont be going back on) and help free up access to the rear arches for Adam to finish up the welding on them too.

Adam has been busy over the last couple of weeks, getting the drivers foot well, inner sill, outer sill and rear arch pretty much finished. He is off to New Zealand on the 7th of Jan, so we need to speed up the repairs so the majority can be done before he disappears (and I am left to weld the old girl).

Here is his progress on the drivers side,

Here is the beam, nice and rusty. (coilover was removed and put in a safe place).

With the rear beam off we decided to have a little look at the underside of the old girl to see what else there was in store for us. Most of it looked pretty good, though some investigation into the fuel filler pipe and cap uncovered some less than great surprises.

Not an uncommon issue, but not one I was expecting. But oh well, not the end of the world, and the new parts are already ordered. To make the task of removing the filler pipe a little easier, and to get something else done we whipped off the petrol tank and gave it a clean out.

Under the tank was actually really clean, with the surrounding areas just suffering from some surface rust. This will be cleaned up and sealed once everything is off the car.

Lastly, on the hunt for any more rust we took off the rear bumper to see what was underneath. There was some bubbling rust at the bottom of the rear panel, but I knew about that already. The biggest (and more amusing) find was the rear bumper itself. I think it has seen better days and I am not sure I will be using is again lol.

Well, after the morning of rusty fun and surprises we decided to go to the driving range and smack some balls. Adam is planning on getting the rest of the welding done on the sills and arches tomorrow, then we can work out the new areas over the next week.

Even though I have been out of action for the last two weeks, that does not mean that the work on the Jetta has stopped completely.

Due to the main chunk of work that is needed at the moment being welding the many rusty holes on the car, Adam (my bro-in-law and expert welder) has been cracking on with the work (when he can be motivated to get out in the cold , sorry Adam).

So, Adam has been getting on and working his way from the front of the car to the back. There is a lot of cutting and welding to do on the old girl, and unfortunately for Adam I am after a pretty tidy finish. This means that he is having to cut out any and all rusty areas and neatly create new sections out of either repair panels (that came with the car) or more commonly shaped sheet metal.

I am then tasked with the job of cleaning up the welds so that everything is nice and new looking with minimal filler.

Anyway, here are some pics of the progress (more to come very soon) and a cool time-lapse of Adam cutting and welding the passenger sill.

If you read this blog at all (which, by looking at the analytics for this blog I can see that you don’t, naughty), you will know that I recently bought a Mk1 Jetta that I am now rebuilding to the highest quality (that I can afford and manage). With a new car comes a number of new questions, what engine should I have? What colour should it be painted, what interior choices should I look at? but one of the biggest and most difficult choices has to be, What wheels should I run?

It has been said countless times “the wheels make the car”, and though there are some cases where this is not true, 9 time out of 10 an average car can be made into a head turner by a quality set of wheels. Now, I am not someone who will look past a well maintained Mk2 Golf with standard alloys on if the whole car is to a high standard (Damien’s mint low mileage Mk2 GTI is a prime example), but many a show winning car has been made by a perfect set polished BBS RMss.

So, as I am recovering from having a useless piece of my intestines pulled out through a small hole (it is all keyhole these days), I have been doing to normal thing of wasting time on eBay looking for some shoes for the new Mk1 Jetta.

Now, this is a dangerous thing to do, as the car still needs so much work to even get the body work ready for paint, let alone the whole car ready for driving, but a little peak can’t hurt, right?

eBay is a wonderful place to see a range of wheels, from expensive ‘rare’ split rims to standard alloys off a range of makes and models. I currently have no idea what kind of price range I will be looking at for the Jetta’s new boots, but I have a feeling it will not be the BBS RS £1000+ region, but that has not stopped me looking. Anyway, here are some cool, interesting and different wheels that I just would love to have for the Jetta (chance are I will not though).

BBS RM splitties. Now I know, RM’s are ‘played out’ on retro VWs and having a set on the Jetta would just be boring. But I can’t help but love the old cross spoked design, and you cannot argue that they still look great. There are plenty on eBay, with many having been refurbished already and demanding over £1k in price, but you can find the odd gem on eBay where the wheels need a little bit of love. These less shiny RM’s are currently priced around £400 to £500, with varying amounts of work needed to bring them back to their former glory.

Next up are some of my favourite wheels on the market, OZ Turbo’s. OZ Turbo’s are much more rare than BBS RM’s, but have the same retro 80s feel and demand the same kind of level of money in today’s market. I have wanted a set of OZ Turbo’s since my first Mk2 Golf many years ago and have not quite been in the right place with the right car to get some. Sets come up on eBay every now and then and can demand anywhere from £500-£600 for an okay set, to £700-£1000 for a set that have been refurbed to a high standard. The set on eBay at the moment are firmly within the latter category, with the wheels being up for £900 with a fresh refurb on them. I am not sure if I would actually buy these (not sure about the centre colour) but they are a beautiful wheel none the less.

Now, there is always something a little more understated (and cheaper) to choose from on eBay. There is a host of different one piece wheels that either came on a car as standard in the 80s-90s, or was an after market wheel back in the day that would still be perfect for a little retro looking Mk1 Jetta. One example that I am currently following is a set of OZ Aero’s. I am not sure if these were ever an optional extra on old Vauxhall’s or something back in the 80s or 90s, but they have that retro look about them that works really well with the boxy shape of the Mk1. What do you think? The biggest issue with retro standard wheels is that they are usually 6-6.5 inches wide, which is a little skinny to look ‘cool’ from the back. But I guess width is not everything.

Last but certainly not least are some more BBS’s, but something a little different from the norm. Now, for the Jetta I will be looking for something that is 14-15 inches in diameter. I think that 14’s or 15’s look the best on any Mk1 platform and anything smaller or larger seems a little much. With that being said, something like these BBS E30 Magnesium Motorsport Wheels could make me make an exception to that rule. Now I know, the wheels in question are 4×108, so they would not fit without a re-drill or some adaptors (or maybe a hub conversion), but they are so cool and rare (properly rare, not the normal eBay rare) that I just couldn’t not include them. The wheels are 13×8 and are so beautifully retro they almost make me want to buy an old Ford to have a car to fit them on. Of course, they have a pretty nice price tag to go along with them too, starting the bidding at £950 might see them reach as high as £1500 by the end of the auction. But a man can dream.

Well, the search continues (and will for a while), but if you have any suggestions for cool wheels for a retro Jetta project let me know in the comments.